Retreat?

As I write the yard is full of water puddles. Had us a good rain about an hour ago and it looks like its possible that more is on the way this evening which is gladly received. I didn’t want to cut meadow hay today with the rain in the forecast so I figured I could chop thistles in a big open pasture with the gyro-mower. Now, there’s an old farmer’s tale that says that if you cut thistles and then they get rained on that same day, they die. Well, we will certainly find out after today’s events if that is true! Personally I hope it is!

When I was cutting thistles today, it ain’t the most intense job in the world by any means as far as a person’s thought processing goes, I was reflecting on a word, a common word today in the American church. Now this might alienate a few folks from me, but that has never stopped me before and it won’t stop me now. The word is “retreat”. For some reason that word used in church dealings has always bothered me. I’d rather have a word like advance, then retreat. As I said, its a common word and nowadays its almost given reverence in the church. Bothering me as it has for a long time I hashed it over today as the tractor purred along cutting them dirty thistles down. Last evening for some reason after reading the daily bible readings I opened that old book, The Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, that rough and tumble circuit rider from a couple hundred years ago in the great Mississippi Valley of this land. He stated for the Methodist Circuit Riders, “retreat” was never considered!

As I dwelled on things I see the differences in “religion” from a couple hundred years ago and nowadays. Now retreat is a word that gives comfort to many Christians, except me of course, because I’d, to put it plainly, go stark raving nuts retreating. The differences in thoughts from then till now show a different way of life today, a different faith, and I’m not sure if what we have is better than what they had. In fact I cannot find anything mentioned in the Bible about retreats in the book of Acts. When I read books about the Chinese church I have never found anything ever mentioned either. It doesn’t seem to exist in what could be called “pure” Christianity. What does seem to exist in what I call Christianity is a never ending drive to spread the Gospel at all costs! To face persecution gladly, to face hardships for the Lamb that was Slain for us!

The modern American religion has me perplexed! I was happy with it all till I started reading the Bible seriously. To take in the Word until I couldn’t contain it any more. I started to see there was formed a religion that would please the follower and it would incorporate much of the world’s views on almost everything.  There has been a religion formed that seems to want to please man’s comforts more than to give up those comforts and do what we are supposed to do. It seems to have been incorporated in so that now in order to be a good Christian you must take vacations. Now there ain’t nothing wrong with vacations, especially when the vacation is spent serving the Lord, and I ain’t blanket knocking vacations here. BUT, more than once I’ve been approached by modern, well meaning Christians, that plainly stated to me there was something wrong with our family being we aren’t taking vacations all the time. Like there is something wrong with us, we aren’t acting like all the other people of God nowadays.  Get where I’m coming from with this?

In churches there’s retreat after retreat advertised, all of course for a pretty penny, so a person can find themselves. So a person can feel better about themselves. I ask myself, why aren’t “attacks” advertised? By that I mean, going out and spreading the Gospel! Egad, what an insane idea, what a heretic for even mentioning something like that! I’d rather spend some off time on the offensive because that’s when a person comes alive! In the Book of Acts the believers didn’t pray for peace, they didn’t pray that they’d be left alone or overlooked by society, they didn’t pray for safe vacations or a beautiful retreat, they prayed for POWER! For power to do what God has called every one of us to do! It is so simple! So simple, but so radical in this day and age.

Recently I was on the preach, and preached a thing to a small group about David and Goliath, and Lord did I feel the Holy Ghost on that one! Did he retreat? I wish I had time to go on the preach with that one tonight but it would be difficult to fit it in. Today chopping thistles I was thinking in more modern military term, even though what I was thinking about was almost seventy years old. Thinking about spiritual warfare, I got to thinking about General Patton.I had three uncles, I do believe, that served under him in WWII. The man and his army never retreated, they plowed ahead and no enemy could withstand them. Back at headquarters he drove them absolutely insane. They wanted to play war at headquarters, giving selected people glory, and Patton was a wildcard that couldn’t be brought under submission to the political way of doing things. I remember the movie, (I was a heathen years ago when I watched it), and the scene of the stubborn donkey on the bridge in Sicily came to mind.How the whole army was at a standstill because of a balking donkey on the bridge. This reminded me of the modern day church, not knowing what to do, might have to call a few meetings to decide how this problem should be handled and then go through a ton of paperwork and because of all this strain take a retreat because we are so stressed out and tired. Old Patton made his way to the front of the column, seen the situation, said many words that I wouldn’t dare put on this blog. Personally pulled out his own pearl handled revolver and shot the donkey between the eyes and had it thrown over the bridge and got the army moving on the attack again.

Not many folks these days have seen a Roman soldier as mentioned in the Bible when it comes to spiritual warfare. Paul wrote about those soldiers because the people at the time understood what he was talking about and I see nothing wrong with using more modern warfare scenarios to get a case across. But when Paul talked about putting on the whole armor of God using the Roman soldier terms there is one thing a person should notice with the whole thing. There is nothing covering the person’s backside. Why, because he is advancing forward into the fight! Not running away from it! Retreat is not an option for a Christian!